What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains” by Nicholas Carr

• What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains” by Nicholas Carr
• “The Upside to Technology? It’s Personal” by Nick Bilton

LINKS!

I’ve attached the file READING: The Circle (only read Book II & III)

Instructions and Requirements

• Review the above texts before completing!
• Please answer TWO of the following questions (one question has to be from The Circle) with a thoughtful response of 350-400 words
• Use MLA format when quoting and/or paraphrasing.

Choose ONE of the following questions:

1. Nick Bilton explains his argument that technology “[connects] us to people who are not with us, geographically or physically, and make us feel a little less alone in this big confusing world […] in the end, as people use the things we create for harm, there will be a lot more instances when they are used for good” (Bilton). Respond to and critique Bilton’s point of view.
2. The author, Nicholas Carr, believes that his attention span has decreased, and he attributes this to Internet usage. What do you think of his theory, and what critiques can you offer?  How do his assertions compare to your own experience?
3. Evaluate Carr’s and Bilton’s use of evidence. Who has more credible/convincing research? Explain with specific examples.

Choose ONE of the following questions:

1. In The Circle, does the Circle seem concerned with promoting and preserving traditional family life? In what ways does it threaten to replace biological families with a wider human family, including via transparency?
2. In The Circle, why do you think Ty felt the need to disguise himself in order to reach out to Mae as he did? How necessary was it for him to preserve his role as one of the Three Wise Men, even as he sought to dismantle the institution he helped create?
3. . Many of the technologies the author invents in The Circle seem futuristic, but they are not so far from realities that exist now: myriad social media sites are obviously omnipresent, but the government is also developing facial recognition to screen for terrorists (The New York Times,August 20, 2013) and Google Glass seems not so unlike the camera necklace that allows for Mae’s transparency. After finishing the novel, did you find this overlap between fact and fiction unsettling? Did it affect how you personally engage with technology?